House Bill 150 stresses medical release for aging prisoners

On Dec. 17, 2025, the Pennsylvania House voted 111-92 to approve House Bill 150. Introduced by Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-Phila) and Rep. Torren Eckers (R-Adams/Cumberland), the bipartisan bill would streamline the process of medical release for the state’s aging incarcerated population. The legislation still has to pass the Pennsylvania Senate and be signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro.

In an interview with Workers World, political prisoner Bryant Arroyo stated that “this is the furthest any death by incarceration bill has gotten in the legislature,” crediting this progress to “the combined efforts from different legal organizations and prisoners’ family members calling and writing state senators, legislators and congress members and the governor’s office to reconsider voting for the second chance legislation to bring home the sick and elderly prison population under the newly revised, second amended Compassionate Release HB150.”

Pennsylvania has an existing “compassionate release” process that HR 150 advocates call “notoriously challenging and time consuming for the more than 27% of the prison population classified as geriatric.” 

Rep. Krajewski notes that “over the last 15 years, only 54 people have been granted release under it, and 11 people died waiting for a hearing. Those are 11 people who could’ve spent their last days at home with family and loved ones. People who posed no threat to society whatsoever. I think we can all agree that this is not the kind of justice that the creators of our commonwealth’s compassionate release system had in mind.”

HR 150 creates a more robust process to consider early medical release for seriously ill inmates, accounting for time served, victim feedback, disciplinary records and physical condition. The bill would save up to $15 million a year paid for expensive medical care within prisons — care that is often substandard, often amounting to medical neglect.

Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of Straight Ahead, noted that “27% of the prison population are elders and considered geriatric, with a vast majority suffering from serious medical conditions and chronic care needs. Most of them, unfortunately, are dying in prison.

Holbrook continued: “HB 150 is a vital bill that offers them a second change — an opportunity to go in front of a parole board, an opportunity to demonstrate that they are not the people that they once were. Too many elders remain incarcerated despite having made the decision to change, seek redemption and rehabilitation. Yet currently they have no avenue to come home. This bill will change that.”

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the number of geriatric inmates has ballooned by 300% since 2001, with more than 7,000 elders now incarcerated. The Pennsylvania DOC spent over $426 million on medical care in the 2023-2024 fiscal year — $40.5 million of which went to pay for medical care for incarcerated elderly people at risk of death.

The bill now goes to the Pennsylvania Senate for consideration. Stressing the importance of its passage, Arroyo told Workers World: “We need to strike, mobilize, organize while the iron is hot. Otherwise, our fate will be sealed to die in prison regardless of our age or health conditions.

“This has nothing to do with the Pennsylvania DOC’s moral or ethical compass. It has everything to do with money, money and more money. It would be economically feasible for the Pennsylvania DOC to get it passed for them to release a good amount of the elderly who are sick and have multiple health issues.”

Supporters of HR 150 are urged to write or call Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman to encourage him to move this important piece of legislation forward to prevent more aging, sick and terminally ill people from dying in prison. 

Pittman can be reached at his Harrisburg office (717-787-8724) or his district office in Indiana County (724-357-0156); FAX: 717-772-1589 or mail to 353 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120-3041.